Sound and
Technology from the Artist's Perspective

021200.04

Joshua Fried: Subverting Technology

Background

New York's East Village and downtown experimental music scenes of the '80s were the
launching points for American composer/performance artist Joshua Fried. His recent
collaboration with choreographer Douglas Dunn, Spell for Opening the Mouth of N,
premiered at The Kitchen, New York, and was one of the highlights of the 1997 Lincoln
Center-Out-of-Doors Festival. Fried has been re-mix producer for
They Might Be Giants,
Chaka Khan and Ofra Haza; his recording Jimmy Because
(with guest guitarist Fred Frith)
was released by Atlantic Records. Fried is a recipient of numerous fellowships and
awards including a 1994 National Endowment for the Arts Composer's Fellowship (USA),
a 1995 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Emergent Forms and artist
residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo and the Bellagio Center (IT). Fried's work has been
presented at Lincoln Center, Bang On a Can, La MaMa and Dixon Place in NYC, as well as
in LA, Chicago, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Prague, Copenhagen and
elsewhere.

Fried is known for turning technology on its head, challenging its assumptions, while
using machines to accentuate the raw human qualities of live events that are unique to
the moment. His work partakes equally of minimalism and the rhythmic experimentation
of Nancarrow and his followers, as well as contemporary performance art, dance rhythm
and sound processing techniques. Fried is also known for his invention The Musical
Shoes, four ordinary shoes mounted upside-down on stands and plugged into electronics
which are activated by striking the shoes.